Machine for polishing and compressing tooth-picks



(No Model.)

O. O. FREEMAN.

MACHINE FOR POLISHING AND GOMPRESSING TOOTH PICKS.

Patented Feb. 22, 1887.

mnmmiml W 6. 3M

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES C. FREEMAN, OF DIXFIELD, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLOTTE M. FORSTER, OF BUOKFIELD, MAINE.

MACHINE FOR POLISHING AND COMPRESSING TOOTH-PICKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 358,029, dated February 22, 1887.

Application filed September 30, 1881. Serial No. 42,900. (No model.)

' and Pointing Tooth-Picks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has for its object the production of a pointed, rounded, polished, and compressed wooden tooth-pick, and of mechanism for accomplishing that result.

It has been common to manufacture wooden tooth-picks by machinery; but the tooth-picks thus manufactured are somewhat rough, and have not sulficiently fine points. Tooth-picks made by hand are generally smoothed and provided with fine points, but both in the case of machine-made and hand-madetooth-picksthey are, being made of wood, ofa certain degree of softness and not sufficiently hard and firm to readily serve the purpose of a good toothpick.

My invention contemplates the making in a machine a tooth-pick which shall be so compressed as to be hard and firm, and shall be polished and finely pointed.

The mechanism by which I accomplish this object consists of devices for so manipulating the ordinary wooden tooth-pick as made on the machines now in use as will convert it into a polished, rounded, compressed, and pointed tooth-pick.

In the drawings I have shown, in Figure 1, a longitudinal section of my machine; in Fig. 2, a transverse section of the same, and in Fig. 3 one of the'tooth-picks polished, compressed, and pointed thereon.

A is a revolving wheel or cylinder, with its periphery slightly concave and covered with a band of leather, india-rubber, or other suitable elastic substance, a.

B is the frame of the machine.

0 is a stationary apron, forming the segment of a circle, and composed of short segments of a circle, a c 0. These segments are united so as to form the apron O by means of the band (I, made of any suitable elastic material, to which the segments 0 c c are attached. These segments are severally adjustable by means of the set-screws D D D, one of which is placed opposite the center of each of the segments 0 c c.

E is the pulley for driving the cylinder A.

F is a table for holding the tooth-picks to be fed to the machine.

G is the shaft of the cylinder A.

The apron O is made concave upon its inner face, so as to leave between it and the periphery of the cylinder A a space of the form of the tooth-pick when finished, as shown in Fig. 2. The elastic surfaces upon the apron C and the cylinder A are to be covered with fineground quartz, glass, or any other substance suitable for polishing wood.

The operation of my machine is as follows: The tooth-picks are fed from the table F between the cylinder A and the apron G at a. These tooth-picks are square in section. By the revolution of the cylinder A they are rolled forward and discharged at I). The distance between the cylinder and the apron is gradually lessened from a to b by means of the setscrews D.

By means of the operation described the toothpick is made round, smooth, and polished and compressed, and provided with fine points.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Themachineforpolishing,rounding,compressing, and pointing tooth-picks, consisting of the cylinder A, the apron 0, made of the segments a c 0, adjustable by the set-screws D D D, the pulley E, the shaft G, the frame B,

and the table F.

2. I11 a machine for rounding, compressing, polishing, and pointingtooth-picks, the cylinder A, table F, and the apron O, in combina tion.

3. In a machine for rounding, compressing, polishing, and pointing tooth-picks, the cylinder A, having a concave periphery and fur nished with the elastic band a, in combination with the table F and a suitable opposing suitable table, from which the tooth-picks are surface for compressing the tooth-picks fed fed, and asuituble revolvingand opposed sur- IO into the machine. face, by means of which the tooth-picks are 4. In a machine for rounding, compressing, compressed. 5 polishing, and pointing toothpicks, the apron CHARLES C. FREEMAN.

0, formed of the segments a c 0, and made eon- Witnesses: cave upon its inner surface and furnished H. J. DE SHON, with the elastic band d, in combination with a D. PORTER STOWELL. 

